The History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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[Footnote 26: Espinall, Almagro's treasurer, denounces the friar
"as proving himself a very devil" by this award. (Carta al
Emperador, Ms.) And Oviedo, a more dispassionate judge, quotes,
without condemning, a cavalier who told the father, that "a
sentence so unjust had not been pronounced since the time of
Pontius Pilate"! Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap.
21.]
Yet his brother, the governor, was not disposed to abandon him to
his fate. On the contrary, he was now prepared to make every
concession to secure his freedom. Concessions, that politic
chief well knew, cost little to those who are not concerned to
abide by them. After some preliminary negotiation, another
award, more equitable, or, at all events, more to the
satisfaction of the discontented party, was given. The principal
articles of it were, that, until the arrival of some definitive
instructions on the point from Castile, the city of Cuzco, with
its territory, should remain in the hands of Almagro; and that
Hernando Pizarro should be set at liberty, on the condition,
above stipulated, of leaving the country in six weeks. - When the
terms of this agreement were communicated to Orgonez, that
officer intimated his opinion of them, by passing his finger
across his throat, and exclaiming, "What has my fidelity to my
commander cost me!" *27

[Footnote 27: "I tomando la barba con la mano izquierda, con la
derecha hico senal de cortarse la cabeca, diciendo: Orgonez,
Orgonez, por el amistad de Don Diego de Almagro te han de cortar
esta." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 9.]

Almagro, in order to do greater honor to his prisoner, visited
him in person, and announced to him that he was from that moment
free. He expressed a hope, at the same time, that "all past
differences would be buried in oblivion, and that henceforth they
should live only in the recollection of then ancient friendship."
Hernando replied, with apparent cordiality, that "he desired
nothing better for himself." He then swore in the most solemn
manner, and pledged his knightly honor, - the latter, perhaps, a
pledge of quite as much weight in his own mind as the former, -
that he would faithfully comply with the terms stipulated in the
treaty. He was next conducted by the marshal to his quarters,
where he partook of a collation in company with the principal
officers; several of whom, together with Diego Almagro, the
general's son, afterward escorted the cavalier to his brother's
camp, which had been transferred to the neighbouring town of
Mala. Here the party received a most cordial greeting from the
governor, who entertained them with a courtly hospitality, and
lavished many attentions, in particular, on the son of his
ancient associate. In short, such, on their return, was the
account of their reception, that it left no doubt in the mind of
Almagro that all was at length amicably settled. *28 - He did not
know Pizarro.

[Footnote 28: Ibid., loc. cit. - Carta de Descub. y Conq., Ms. -
Zarate Gutierrez, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3,
cap. 9.]

Chapter II

First Civil War. - Almagro Retreats To Cuzco. - Battle Of Las
Salinas. - Cruelty Of The Conquerors. - Trial And Execution Of
Almagro. - His Character.
1537-1538.

Scarcely had Almagro's officers left the governor's quarters,
when the latter, calling his little army together, briefly
recapitulated the many wrongs which had been done him by his
rival, the seizure of his capital, the imprisonment of his
brothers, the assault and defeat of his troops; and he concluded
with the declaration, - heartily echoed back by his military
audience, - that the time had now come for revenge. All the
while that the negotiations were pending, Pizarro had been busily
occupied with military preparations. He had mustered a force
considerably larger than that of his rival, drawn from various
quarters, but most of them familiar with service. He now
declared, that, as he was too old to take charge of the campaign
himself, he should devolve that duty on his brothers; and he
released Hernando from all his engagements to Almagro, as a
measure justified by necessity. That cavalier, with graceful
pertinacity, intimated his design to abide by the pledges he had
given, but, at length yielded a reluctant assent to the commands
of his brother, as to a measure imperatively demanded by his duty
to the Crown. *1

[Footnote 1: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 10.]
The governor's next step was to advise Almagro that the treaty
was at an end. At the same time, he warned him to relinquish his
pretensions to Cuzco, and withdraw into his own territory, or the
responsibility of the consequences would lie on his own head.

Reposing in his false security, Almagro was now fully awakened to
the consciousness of the error he had committed; and the warning
voice of his lieutenant may have risen to his recollection. The
first part of the prediction was fulfilled. And what should
prevent the latter from being so? To add to his distress, he was
laboring at this time under a grievous malady, the result of
early excesses, which shattered his constitution, and made him
incapable alike of mental and bodily exertion. *2

[Footnote 2: "Cayo enfermo i estuvo malo a punto de muerte de
bubas i dolores" (Carta de Espinall, Ms.) It was a hard penalty,
occurring at this crisis, for the sins, perhaps, of earlier days;
but

"The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us."]

In this forlorn condition, he confided the management of his
affairs to Orgonez, on whose loyalty and courage he knew he might
implicitly rely. The first step was to secure the passes of the
Guaitara, a chain of hills that hemmed in the valley of Zangalla,
where Almagro was at present established. But, by some
miscalculation, the passes were not secured in season; and the
active enemy, threading the dangerous defiles, effected a passage
across the sierra, where a much inferior force to his own might
have taken him at advantage. The fortunes of Almagro were on the
wane.
His thoughts were now turned towards Cuzco, and he was anxious to
get possession of this capital before the arrival of the enemy.
Too feeble to sit on horseback, he was obliged to be carried in a
litter; and, when he reached the ancient town of Bilcas, not far
from Guamanga, his indisposition was so severe that he was
compelled to halt and remain there three weeks before resuming
his march.

The governor and his brothers, in the mean time, after traversing
the pass of Guaitara, descended into the valley of Ica, where
Pizarro remained a considerable while, to get his troops into
order and complete his preparations for the campaign. Then,
taking leave of the army, he returned to Lima, committing the
prosecution of the war, as he had before announced, to his
younger and more active brothers. Hernando, soon after quitting
Ica, kept along the coast as far as Nasca, proposing to penetrate
the country by a circuitous route in order to elude the enemy,
who might have greatly embarrassed him in some of the passes of
the Cordilleras. But unhappily for him, this plan of operations,
which would have given him such manifest advantage, was not
adopted by Almagro; and his adversary, without any other
impediment than that arising from the natural difficulties of the
march, arrived, in the latter part of April, 1538, in the
neighbourhood of Cuzco.

But Almagro was already in possession of that capital, which he
had reached ten days before. A council of war was held by him
respecting the course to be pursued. Some were for making good
the defence of the city. Almagro would have tried what could be
done by negotiation. But Orgonez bluntly replied, - "It is too
late; you have liberated Hernando Pizarro, and nothing remains
but to fight him." The opinion of Orgonez finally prevailed, to
march out and give the enemy battle on the plains. The marshal,
still disabled by illness from taking the command, devolved it on
his trusty lieutenant, who, mustering his forces, left the city,
and took up a position at Las Salinas, less than a league distant
from Cuzco. The place received its name from certain pits or vats
in the ground, used for the preparation of salt, that was
obtained from a natural spring in the neighbourhood. It was an
injudicious choice of ground, since its broken character was most
unfavorable to the free action of cavalry, in which the strength
of Almagro's force consisted. But, although repeatedly urged by
the officers to advance into the open country, Orgonez persisted
in his position, as the most favorable for defence, since the
front was protected by a marsh, and by a little stream that
flowed over the plain. His forces amounted in all to about five
hundred, more than half of them horse. His infantry was
deficient in fire-arms, the place of which was supplied by the
long pike. He had also six small cannon, or falconets, as they
were called, which, with his cavalry, formed into two equal
divisions, he disposed on the flanks of his infantry. Thus
prepared, he calmly awaited the approach of the enemy.

It was not long before the bright arms and banners of the
Spaniards under Hernando Pizarro were seen emerging from the
mountain passes. The troops came forward in good order, and like
men whose steady step showed that they had been spared in the
march, and were now fresh for action. They advanced slowly across
the plain, and halted on the opposite border of the little stream
which covered the front of Orgonez. Here Hernando, as the sun
had set, took up his quarters for the night, proposing to defer
the engagement till daylight. *3

[Footnote 3: Carta de Gutierrez, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y
Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 1 - 5.
- Carta de Espinall, Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap.
10, 11. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2 lib. 2, cap. 36, 37.]

The rumors of the approaching battle had spread far and wide over
the country; and the mountains and rocky heights around were
thronged with multitudes of natives, eager to feast their eyes on
a spectacle, where, whichever side were victorious, the defeat
would fall on their enemies. *4 The Castilian women and children,
too, with still deeper anxiety, had thronged out from Cuzco to
witness the deadly strife in which brethren and kindred were to
contend for mastery. *5 The whole number of the combatants was
insignificant; though not as compared with those usually engaged
in these American wars It is not, however, the number of the
players, but the magnitude of the stake, that gives importance
and interest to the game; and in this bloody game, they were to
play for the possession of an empire.

[Footnote 4: Herrera, Hist. General, dec 6, lib. 4, cap. 5, 6.]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., ubi supra.]

The night passed away in silence, unbroken by the vast assembly
which covered the surrounding hill-tops. Nor did the soldiers of
the hostile camps, although keeping watch within hearing of one
another, and with the same blood flowing in their veins, attempt
any communication. So deadly was the hate in their bosoms! *6

[Footnote 6: "I fue cosa de notar, que se estuvieron toda la
Noche, sin que nadie de la vna i otra parte pensase en mover
tratos de Paz: tanta era la ira i aborrecimiento de ambas
partes." Ibid., cap. 6.]

The sun rose bright, as usual in this beautiful climate, on
Saturday, the twenty-sixth day of April, 1538. *7 But long before
his beams were on the plain, the trumpet of Hernando Pizarro had
called his men to arms. His forces amounted in all to about seven
hundred. They were drawn from various quarters, the veterans of
Pizarro, the followers of Alonso de Alvarado, - many of whom,
since their defeat, had found their way back to Lima, - and the
late reinforcement from the isles, most of them seasoned by many
a toilsome march in the Indian campaigns, and many a hard-fought
field. His mounted troops were inferior to those of Almagro; but
this was more than compensated by the strength of his infantry,
comprehending a well-trained corps of arquebusiers, sent from St.
Domingo, whose weapons were of the improved construction recently
introduced from Flanders. They were of a large calibre, and
threw double-headed shot, consisting of bullets linked together
by an iron chain. It was doubtless a clumsy weapon compared with
modern fire-arms, but, in hands accustomed to wield it, proved a
destructive instrument. *8
[Footnote 7: A church dedicated to Saint Lazarus was afterwards
erected on the battle-ground, and the bodies of those slain in
the action were interred within its walls. This circumstance
leads Garcilasso to suppose that the battle took place on
Saturday, the sixth, - the day after the Feast of Saint Lazarus,
- and not on the twenty-sixth of April, as commonly reported.
Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap 38. See also Montesinos,
(Annales, Ms., ano 1538,) - an indifferent authority for any
thing]

[Footnote 8: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 8. -
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 36.]

Hernando Pizarro drew up his men in the same order of battle as
that presented by the enemy, - throwing his infantry into the
centre, and disposing his horse on the flanks; one corps of which
he placed under command of Alonso de Alvarado, and took charge of
the other himself. The infantry was headed by his brother
Gonzalo, supported by Pedro de Valdivia, the future hero of
Arauco, whose disastrous story forms the burden of romance as
well as of chronicle. *9

[Footnote 9: The Araucana of Ercilla may claim the merit, indeed,
- if it be a merit, - of combining both romance and history in
one. Surely never did the Muse venture on such a specification
of details, not merely poetical, but political, geographical, and
statistical, as in this celebrated Castilian epic. It is a
military journal done into rhyme.]

Mass was said, as if the Spaniards were about to fight what they
deemed the good fight of the faith, instead of imbruing their
hands in the blood of their countrymen. Hernando Pizarro then
made a brief address to his soldiers. He touched on the personal
injuries he and his family had received from Almagro; reminded
his brother's veterans that Cuzco had been wrested from their
possession; called up the glow of shame on the brows of
Alvarado's men as he talked of the rout of Abancay, and, pointing
out the Inca metropolis that sparkled in the morning sunshine, he
told them that there was the prize of the victor. They answered
his appeal with acclamations; and the signal being given, Gonzalo
Pizarro, heading his battalion of infantry, led it straight
across the river. The water was neither broad nor deep, and the
soldiers found no difficulty in gaining a landing, as the enemy's
horse was prevented by the marshy ground from approaching the
borders. But, as they worked their way across the morass, the
heavy guns of Orgonez played with effect on the leading files,
and threw them into disorder. Gonzalo and Valdivia threw
themselves into the midst of their followers, menacing some,
encouraging others, and at length led them gallantly forward to
the firm ground. Here the arquebusiers, detaching themselves
from the rest of the infantry, gained a small eminence, whence,
in their turn, they opened a galling fire on Orgonez, scattering
his array of spearmen, and sorely annoying the cavalry on the
flanks.

Meanwhile, Hernando, forming his two squadrons of horse into one
column, crossed under cover of this well-sustained fire, and,
reaching the firm ground, rode at once against the enemy.
Orgonez, whose infantry was already much crippled, advancing his
horse, formed the two squadrons into one body, like his
antagonist, and spurred at full gallop against the assailants.
The shock was terrible; and it was hailed by the swarms of Indian
spectators on the surrounding heights with a fiendisn yell of
triumph, that rose far above the din of battle, till it was lost
in distant echoes among the mountains. *10
[Footnote 10: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 6. -
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Espinall, Ms. -
Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 11.

Every thing relating to this battle, - the disposition of the
forces, the character of the ground, the mode of attack, are told
as variously and confusedly, as if it had been a contest between
two great armies, instead of a handful of men on either side. It
would seem that truth is nowhere so difficult to come at, as on
the battle-field.]

The struggle was desperate. For it was not that of the white man
against the defenceless Indian, but of Spaniard against Spaniard;
both parties cheering on their comrades with their battle-cries
of "El Rey y Almagro," or "El Rey y Pizarro," - while they fought
with a hate, to which national antipathy was as nothing; a hate
strong in proportion to the strength of the ties that had been
rent asunder.

In this bloody field well did Orgonez do his duty, fighting like
one to whom battle was the natural element. Singling out a
cavalier, whom, from the color of the sobre-vest on his armour,
he erroneously supposed to be Hernando Pizarro, he charged him in
full career, and overthrew him with his lance. Another he ran
through in like manner, and a third he struck down with his
sword, as he was prematurely shouting "Victory!" But while thus
doing the deeds of a paladin of romance, he was hit by a
chain-shot from an arquebuse, which, penetrating the bars of his
visor, grazed his forehead, and deprived him for a moment of
reason. Before he had fully recovered, his horse was killed
under him, and though the fallen cavalier succeeded in
extricating himself from the stirrups, he was surrounded, and
soon overpowered by numbers. Still refusing to deliver up his
sword, he asked "if there was no knight to whom he could
surrender." One Fuentes, a menial of Pizarro, presenting himself
as such, Orgonez gave his sword into his hands, - and the
dastard, drawing his dagger, stabbed his defenceless prisoner to
the heart! His head, then struck off, was stuck on a pike, and
displayed, a bloody trophy, in the great square of Cuzco, as the
head of a traitor. *11 Thus perished as loyal a cavalier, as
decided in council, and as bold in action, as ever crossed to the
shores of America.
[Footnote 11: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera
Hist. General, ubi supra. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, ubi supra.]
The fight had now lasted more than an hour, and the fortune of
the day was turning against the followers of Almagro. Orgonez
being down, their confusion increased. The infantry, unable to
endure the fire of the arquebusiers, scattered and took refuge
behind the stone-walls, that here and there straggled across the
country. Pedro de Lerma, vainly striving to rally the cavalry,
spurred his horse against Hernando Pizarro, with whom he had a
personal feud. Pizarro did not shrink from the encounter. The
lances of both the knights took effect. That of Hernando
penetrated the thigh of his opponent, while Lerma's weapon,
glancing by his adversary's saddle-bow, struck him with such
force above the groin, that it pierced the joints of his mail,
slightly wounding the cavalier, and forcing his horse back on his
haunches. But the press of the fight soon parted the combatants,
and, in the turmoil that ensued, Lerma was unhorsed, and left on
the field covered with wounds. *12

[Footnote 12: Herrera, Hist. General, ubi supra. - Garcilasso,
Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 36.

Hernando Pizarro wore a surcoat of orange-colored velvet over his
armour, according to Garcilasso, and before the battle sent
notice of it to Orgonez, that the latter might distinguish him in
the melee. But a knight in Hernando's suite also wore the same
colors, it appears, which led Orgonez into error.]

There was no longer order, and scarcely resistance, among the
followers of Almagro. They fled, making the best of their way to
Cuzco, and happy was the man who obtained quarter when he asked
it. Almagro himself, too feeble to sit so long on his horse,
reclined on a litter, and from a neighbouring eminence surveyed
the battle, watching its fluctuations with all the interest of
one who felt that honor, fortune, life itself, hung on the issue.
With agony not to be described, he had seen his faithful
followers, after their hard struggle, borne down by their
opponents, till, convinced that all was lost, he succeeded in
mounting a mule, and rode off for a temporary refuge to the
fortress of Cuzco. Thither he was speedily followed, taken, and
brought in triumph to the capital, where, ill as he was, he was
thrown into irons, and confined in the same in the same apartment
of the stone building in which he had imprisoned the Pizarros.

The action lasted not quite two hours. The number of killed,
variously stated, was probably not less than a hundred and fifty,
- one of the combatants calls it two hundred, *13 - a great
number, considering the shortness of the time, and the small
amount of forces engaged. No account is given of the wounded.
Wounds were the portion of the cavalier. Pedro de Lerma is said
to have received seventeen, and yet was taken alive from the
field! The loss fell chiefly on the followers of Almagro But the
slaughter was not confined to the heat of the action. Such was
the deadly animosity of the parties, that several were murdered
in cold blood, like Orgonez, after they had surrendered. Pedro
de Lerma himself, while lying on his sick couch in the quarters
of a friend in Cuzco, was visited by a soldier, named Samaniego,
whom he had once struck for an act of disobedience. This person
entered the solitary chamber of the wounded man, took his place
by his bed-side, and then, upbraiding him for the insult, told
him that he had come to wash it away in his blood! Lerma in vain
assured him, that, when restored to health, he would give him the
satisfaction he desired. The miscreant, exclaiming "Now is the
hour!" plunged his sword into his bosom. He lived several years
to vaunt this atrocious exploit, which he proclaimed as a
reparation to his honor. It is some satisfaction to know that
the insolence of this vaunt cost him his life. *14 - Such
anecdotes, revolting as they are, illustrate not merely the
spirit of the times, but that peculiarly ferocious spirit which
is engendered by civil wars, - the most unforgiving in their
character of any, but wars of religion.

[Footnote 13: "Murieron en esta Batalla de las Salinas casi
dozientos hombres de vna parte y de otra." (Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms.) Most authorities rate the loss at less.
The treasurer Espinall, a partisan of Almagro, says they
massacred a hundred and fifty after the fight, in cold blood.
"Siguiecon el alcanze la mas cruelmente que en el mundo se ha
visto, porque matavan a los hombres rendidos e desarmados, e por
les quitar las armas los mataban si presto no se las quitaban, e
trayendo a las ancas de un caballo a un Ruy Diaz viniendo rendido
e desarmado le mataron, i desta manera mataron mas de ciento e
cinquenta hombres" Carta, Ms.]

[Footnote 14: Carta de Espinall, Ms. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,
Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 38.

He was hanged for this very crime by the governor of Puerto
Viejo, about five years after this time, having outraged the
feelings of that officer and the community by the insolent and
open manner in which he boasted of his atrocious exploit.]

In the hurry of the flight of one party, and the pursuit by the
other, all pouring towards Cuzco, the field of battle had been
deserted. But it soon swarmed with plunderers, as the Indians,
descending like vultures from the mountains, took possession of
the bloody ground, and, despoiling the dead, even to the minutest
article of dress, left their corpses naked on the plain. *15 It
has been thought strange that the natives should not have availed
themselves of their superior numbers to fall on the victors after
they had been exhausted by the battle. But the scattered bodies
of the Peruvians were without a leader; they were broken in
spirits, moreover, by recent reverses, and the Castilians,
although weakened for the moment by the struggle, were in far
greater strength in Cuzco than they had ever been before.
[Footnote 15: "Los Indios viendo la Batalla fenescida, ellos
tambien se dejaron de la suia, iendo los vnos i los otros a
desnudar los Espanoles muertos, i aun algunos vivos, que por sus
heridas no se podian defender, porque como paso el tropel de la
Gente, siguiendo la Victoria, no huvo quien se lo impidiese; de
manera que dexaron en cueros a todos los caidos." Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 11]

Indeed, the number of troops now assembled within its walls,
amounting to full thirteen hundred, composed, as they were, of
the most discordant materials, gave great uneasiness to Hernando
Pizarro. For there were enemies glaring on each other and on him
with deadly though smothered rancor, and friends, if not so
dangerous, not the less troublesome from their craving and
unreasonable demands. He had given the capital up to pillage,
and his followers found good booty in the quarters of Almagro's
officers. But this did not suffice the more ambitious cavaliers;
and they clamorously urged their services, and demanded to be
placed in charge of some expedition, nothing doubting that it
must prove a golden one. All were in quest of an El Dorado.
Hernando Pizarro acquiesced as far as possible in these desires,
most willing to relieve himself of such importunate creditors.
The expeditions, it is true, usually ended in disaster; but the
country was explored by them. It was the lottery of adventure;
the prizes were few, but they were splendid; and in the
excitement of the game, few Spaniards paused to calculate the
chances of success.